ISE Ethics Toolkit

Participants in the 2006 Ethics Workshop in Thailand

At the request of ISE members at the 2006 Congress, the ISE is developing an Ethics Toolkit to assist members in understanding and implementing the ISE Code of Ethics. The ISE Ethics Toolkit will contain supporting material for applying the ISE Code of Ethics across diverse cultural and geographical contexts.

Some of the planned components include an online tutorial to promote familiarity with the ISE Code of Ethics, case studies that share lessons learned, template agreements, and other educational, outreach, communication and training materials to help implement the ISE Code of Ethics.

Ethics Toolkit Design

The Ethics Toolkit will include an annotated version of the ISE Code of Ethics that will explore in detail the main concepts, principles and guidelines in the Code. It will be organized into four general categories, or “streams”, including Research, Education, Legal and Policy.

The four streams were chosen to reflect the main practical applications of the Code of Ethics and the types of tools that have been requested or that we anticipate are needed. Each stream will contain explanations, examples, templates and other resources that help users to understand how to implement the Code of Ethics for various purposes. The streams and the annotated Code of Ethics will all draw from a common library of content, organized and formatted in different ways to facilitate different uses or applications.

Current status and future plans

The online platform to host the Ethics Toolkit has been developed and an alpha version was launched at the 2012 ISE Congress in France. Content for the toolkit is being systematically collected through online submissions and direct invitations and is currently being organized into the four streams. Interactive online fora (e.g., webinars) will be used to build and refine the Ethics Toolkit. Launch of the functional beta version is planned for May 2013. Further development, refinement and outreach to sister societies will lead up to a session at the 2014 ISE Congress in Bhutan.